Five minutes before the system notifications, Jake was standing deep inside the moon, his eyes transfixed on a sword floating over what looked to be an altar. The moment Jake identified it, his body began trembling, but it wasn't that Jake was trembling; it was the system itself. Jake began to read over the information given to him.
Item
Sword of Damocles
The Sword of Damocles is an item bestowed by the heavens, and upon its use, it will mark the user as a haven breaker. But in so doing, it opens a path forward and away from any influence—restricted. All further information is restricted.
This is a permanent soulbound item.
Fight the heavens to gain—restricted.
As Jake was reading over the odd prompt, it seemed the system finally wanted to talk again.
S:\>help. So now you want to talk? What's up with all that restricted bullshit? I thought you moved me over to this backwards-ass interface to get away from all that? Or have you just been messing with me this whole time?
S:\>step away from that item now.
S:\>help. Wow, I am finding it a little odd that the moment I find this thing, you begin acting the same as before. My guess is you put me in this fucked-up interface just to mess with me because you actually can't do anything to me. Am I right, and this sword will free me from you?
After Jake said this, he started walking closer to the sword.
S:\>don't do it; we will kill you if you take one more step.
S:\>help. Well, if you can, why haven't you? How about this: give me the full description of the item, then we can talk.
The system went quiet for a second, then sent a reply.
S:\>we can't do that; this item is outside of our control. It needs to be destroyed.
S:\>help. Is that so? It's outside of your control? Nice.
Jake lunged forward and grabbed the hilt of the sword. Light erupted from it, shattering Jake's interface in an instant as a guttural groan of thousands of voices erupted in the cavern, followed by spectral forms. “You think we will let you go.” Jake's eyes went white as he lost his senses; only the sound of Jake's reply could be heard, and that was two simple but well-meaning words: “Damocles down.” As Jake said this, a gigantic sword appeared over Shackleton crater and began falling at a slow pace, giving many people on the surface time to escape before it impacted the moon, smashing a path right through the surface and shattering everything in its path. The spectral forms disintegrated the moment the sword entered the cave, but Jake wasn't done yet, it seemed, as the sword continued smashing through the moon until it reached the moon's frozen core before entering it and exploding. The moon's core began to heat up and rotate, pulling in more and more heavy elements until it stabilised. Then the moon itself began rotating. A blue bubble extended into the sky as ice began melting, forming clouds of rain. Finally, the feeling of life began to emanate from the moon's core itself, flooding everything with life energy.
Numbers and letters flashed in Jake's mind as he began to wake up from his experience, but what he saw next was even more amazing: the moon was green, with trees, grass, and rainforests.
“Sir, you're finally awake. Let me go get Emma and James; they would like to ask you some things.” Jake just nodded at Jo before he tried opening up his interface, but what he got was once again different. Instead of the terminal, it was once again more like a game, but what threw him for a loop was the information he received. First of all, the interface was now his; secondly, there was a lot more information about things, so Jake tried to limit what was being displayed to him at any given time, as it was overloading his mind.
Name: Jake Everval
Race: Demon of the Past (Unique)
Core: Haven Breaker (First Grade, Restricted; fully unlocked at D Grade)
Grade: F
Information on F Grade:
Upgrades: 600 above previous; anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F Graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Note: Levels are gained through cultivation; levels must be solidified by practical use.
Solidified Level: 78. Levels required till next grade evaluation: 1000 total
Cultivation Level: 0 of 0%
Class: Trooper Shadow Mage (Common) 2000 levels required till next major threshold
Solidified Class Level: 1099
Cultivated Level: 0 of 0%
Profession: Arcane Smith (Common) 2000 levels required till next major threshold
Solidified Profession Level: 538
Cultivated Level: 0 of 0%
Information at common rarity; your profession will have less impact on the environment around you.
Stats points available: 109,459
Conversion multiplier: ×10
Mana: 1,000,000
Arcane: 1,000,000
Stamina: 2,000,010
Health: 1,526,500
Base multiplier: ×10
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Strength: 100,101
Agility: 100,000
Intelligence: 100,000
Wisdom: 100,000
Perception: 100,000
Integrity: 152,650
Complete dungeons to advance multipliers beyond the starting ×10 multiplier.
A basic collection method has been granted to you by the heavens.
Fuck yes, I'm free and I have a path forward. Alright, Jake, let's not get too excited.
Jake first looked over the cultivation method, only to find it required him to sit in meditation for long periods of time to absorb the surrounding energies. These energies included mana energy, arcane energy, and then there were life and void energies. This was going to be a problem. Sure, arcane and mana could be found anywhere, but life energy and void were two different things. The only thing that Jake could think of for life was sitting in a forest; as for void, Jake had no idea. He would have to come back to this issue later; for now, he needed to look over a few things.
Notification
You have been marked by the heavens; you are now amongst the cultivators who take their power from the heavens to grow stronger. Beware of the heavens, rather.
Notification
Territory expanded; you have reached the title of Baron. You have four titles you can grant to your followers.
Titles:
Minister of Knowledge
Minister of War
Minister of Finance
Minister of the Lands
Notification
Pick a name for your new budding empire.
Jake quickly entered the first name that popped into his head.
Notification
Your new empire name is the Heart Haven Empire.
Setting up basic systems for the Heart Haven Empire; please wait.
Error to continue. Grant the title of Minister of Lands to Mr Alric; unknown yes/no.
Jake shrugged his shoulders and selected yes.
Notification
Basic empire systems activated to improve the efficiency of the empire system. Grant your followers the remaining titles. Eligible followers:
Erica Blake
Emma Moore
Jayne Everval
Jake had an idea of what to do, so he gave Erica the position of Minister of Finance, as she had been running everything in two of his territories alone, while the Minister of War went to Emma. Finally, the one he knew would be the best fit, Jayne, got the Minister of Knowledge position.
After he did this, no more notifications popped up, leaving Jake to go over some more things; one was to figure out what that sword was. Jake looked through his items, but it wasn't listed at all. Then he tried to summon it out, but that just made him look like an idiot holding his hand out. He tried everything he could think of for five hours until he finally had to give up, as walking over to him was his new Minister of War, followed closely by James and Annabel.
“Sorry I'm late. Someone rewrote my interface and cut me off from the system while also knocking me the fuck out in the process. Would you like to explain what the fuck is going on?” Emma said in a slightly aggressive tone.
“Sorry about that, but in my defence, I didn't know giving you a title would have that kind of effect.”
“What made us all enemies of the system?” James said.
“I found something it really didn't want me to have.”
“So this thing you found, did it have anything to do with what happened here?”
“Well, that's hard to explain as I don't really remember what happened, but I would say so, unless one of you did it.”
“Could you do it again?”
“No, I can still feel the sword, but I can't access it for some reason. I think it might have something to do with my grade level.”
“So about this title.”
“What about it? If you're asking me to explain it, I can't. I don't have any more information other than its name and by the way, I would assume the title puts you in charge of war-related issues or something; most likely you know more about this than me.”
“Well, you're not wrong, but it also limits me to only being in charge of your fighting forces and nothing else. I can't access anything related to new technology or the taxation systems anymore; I am limited to military operations. Don't get me wrong, this is fine by me. It's just if I can't access it, who can?”
“The title of Minister of Finance went to Eric, while the title Minister of Lands went to Alric. As for knowledge, that is Jayne. I believe this is to separate the power imbalance when one person could access everything like before.”
“What about the Demon’s Hand mercenary group?” James asked.
“What about it?” Jake questioned.
“The system disbanded it and made any that stayed an enemy of the system. We lost a lot of people; even the United Earth Defence Forces left,” Emma said.
Jake was stunned by the system's action but not surprised.
“How many remained?”
“On the moon, we have one hundred personnel, while in space we have your ship, my ship and two others. Not a single member from yours or mine left. As for the two others, they have a total of five people, all beast folk, the same with the minority on the moon.”
“So they stayed because they had nowhere else to go,” James said.
“I'm going to make a quick message to them to help reduce their anxiety a bit.”
Holding up his hand to silence any further conversation before he opened his comms to everyone.
“As you all may be aware, I am an enemy of the system, but let me tell you, my territories are not part of the system, and your homes within will remain safe. The system cannot take your homes away, so if you wish to return to Earth and live your lives there, I will not stop you, nor will anyone else. But if you stay by my side, we can grow our safe harbour into an empire big enough that the system itself will think twice before harming us again. So my offer stands.” Jake sent this communication system-wide so that everyone on Earth would be able to hear it, including both the invaders and the United Earth Defence Forces, leaving no room for them to take advantage of the situation.
The ground started to rumble when a crystal cutter unlike any other popped up. It was humanoid, and before anyone could react, it spoke.
“Is it true you are an enemy of the corruption?” it said in a clicking voice.
“If you're talking about the system, then yes, we are,” Jake said.
“Good, upon verification, my hive would like to join you in your war.” Just as it finished speaking, the ground began rumbling louder as nine more hominid crystal cutters exited the ground. “We too would be willing to assist you in this venture.”
“I would be happy to have such strength join our ranks, but what would you like in return?” Jake asked.
“We of the hives just wish to have a place free from corruption.”
“This moon is yours; my only request is that you grant my people access to a small plot of land, no bigger than what we already had; this would be for the war effort.”
“We are fine with that. We would also like to invite the Heaven Breaker to one of our cultivation caves.”
“You know what I am?” Jake asked.
“Yes, those marked by the heavens will always shine bright to us.”
“Could I come as well?” Emma quickly asked.
“Are you also a cultivator now?” Jake asked.
“It seems that way,” Emma said.
“Well, would it be possible to bring my Minister of War as well?”
“The Minister of War is welcome to join us if she truly follows the path of cultivation.”
“When you are ready, just come find me; ask one of my soldiers stationed at the egg chamber you found. They will bring you both down to me,” the first hive queen said. Yes, Jake had decided to just call them hive queens, as they kept saying "their hive," giving Jake the impression that they were queen bees. After the queens left, Jake asked Emma to show him the way to a secluded place. He had a lot of information to analyse and limited time to do it.